


who knows, if i never showed up, what could've been

by Dinosaur1212



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/F, I really don't know what this is, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, catra is a counselor for reasons to be mentioned later although it might be obvious, catra owns a jeep wrangler which is another manifestation of my wants, catradora endgame though no questions asked, fluff? i don't know? eventually though, i have too many WIPs now, i will 10/10 be adding tags so just you wait my pals, i'm portraying my wanting of a golden retriever on this fic okay, if you haven't stream folklore, lowkey maybe my favorite thing i'll randomly add, oh i forgot! they're all adults doing adult stuff, pls give me time to establish shadow weaver is a bitch, professor bow methinks, swift wind is a golden retriever, there is swearing so beware!, wait til you see who i freaking make adora's moms, yes the title is taken from the last great american dynasty, yet again another divergence of my writing style ?????
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25558597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dinosaur1212/pseuds/Dinosaur1212
Summary: It was during the dog days of summer that two people met for the first time. The sun was just setting, closing out another scorching hot August day.It all started innocently—and ironically—enough, happening in the form of a dog wandering around, obviously having run away from whoever it belonged to based upon the leash it was dragging along with it.ORthe one where catra and adora keep running into each other by pure chance
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy everyone!! I know I have a lot of WIPs at the moment but apparently I don't know peace until I write every new idea I have so this is why I am adding yet another work to my collection of ongoing projects! I don't think this one will be long though; it's just supposed to be a short idea. So stick around for the ride and chaos that is my writing schedule! Enjoy friends!

It was during the dog days of summer that two people met for the first time. The sun was just setting, closing out another scorching hot August day. 

It all started innocently—and ironically—enough, happening in the form of a dog wandering around, obviously having run away from whoever it belonged to based upon the leash it was dragging along with it.

Catra never considered herself a dog person—far from it if she was being honest with herself—but since she was the only person on the wooded back road, she pulled off onto the side of the road, proceeding to turn to the back seat in order to rummage around in her grocery bags to see if she had something to coax the dog with. Pulling out a carrot from its packaging, she exited her car, moving towards the dog.

“Hey, come here buddy. It’s getting late, and I can only assume someone is worried sick about you.”

Nothing happened at first, save for the dog staring at her intently, but eventually the dog moved closer, reaching for the carrot.

Catra backed up towards her car, keeping the carrot just out of reach until she was at her car, using her free hand to open the back door.

“Now look here, I have some groceries in here, but I’m trusting you’ll leave them alone,” Catra said to the dog, reaching down to grab its leash that was on the ground before tossing the carrot into the car, “Go get the carrot or something.”

Her final sentence wasn’t even out of her mouth before the dog was jumping into the car after the carrot, Catra tossing in the leash after the dog.

“God, dogs are so gullible,” Catra muttered under her breath as she closed the back door and climbed back into the driver’s seat. Looking in the rearview mirror she could see the dog munching away on the carrot, “Guess that means you like it then, huh.”

The dog ignored her, continuing to eat the carrot before finishing and ultimately focusing its attention on Catra, letting out a quick bark.

Leaning her head back into the headrest, Catra sighed, “That is something we are not going to do, especially since when we get to my apartment, I’m not really allowed animals.”

Cocking his head to the side, the dog moved to put his paws on the center console, attempting to lick Catra’s face.

“Stop that!” Catra scolded, shifting out of the dog’s reach, “I just want to get you back to my apartment, check your collar for tags, and then find your owner. There’s no time for licking me.”

And somehow the dog took that as an invitation to climb into the passenger seat beside Catra, turning to look at her with a satisfied look on his face, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

“Fine, I’ll just look at your collar now,” Catra conceded, pausing to turn her Jeep back on to get the air going as the air was getting hot, before moving the collar to reveal the tags on the collar, proceeding to read what was written on them.

_ Swift Wind _

_ (223)291-5928 _

“Who the fuck names their dog Swift Wind?” 

At the sound of his name, Swift Wind nudged her hand, trying to get Catra to pet him, not succeeding in the slightest.

“No dice, dog,” Catra stated, “I have to call your idiot of an owner.”

Reaching for her phone in the cupholder, Catra unlocked her phone, pulling up the phone app. Typing in the number, she double checked to make sure it was correct before she finally called the number.

The phone rang once, and then twice, going on to ring two more times before going to the person’s voicemail.

_ “Hey, you’ve reached Adora. Leave a message and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can!” _

Once the message had concluded, Catra finally left her voicemail.

“Hey Adora, this is Catra. I found your dog on Dryl Way. Give me a call back so I can return him.”

Satisfied with her message, Catra hung up, setting her phone down and looking at Swift Wind a final time, “Guess we just have to wait for her to call back.”

And with that, Catra drove back to her apartment.

\--------------------------

Adora was freaking out.

Actually, she was way past the point of freaking out.

She had been walking to visit Bow and Glimmer, Swift Wind in tow, when suddenly he saw a squirrel and bolted. Under normal circumstances Adora would’ve been able to handle him, but she wasn’t expecting the golden retriever to pull away so quickly.

So now she was an hour into driving around with her two best friends, on the lookout for Swift Wind.

“I’m sure he didn’t get far, Adora,” Bow soothed, sending a concerned glance Adora’s way before focusing his attention back on the road.

“Bow is right,” Glimmer confirmed, “Swift Wind is going to turn up.”

“That’s easy for you to say! He could be anywhere! He could be hurt for all I know!” Adora exclaimed, her worry getting the best of her.

“Adora,” Glimmer stated, nothing but seriousness in her voice to get Adora’s attention, “You gotta have hope. Think positive things.”

“Alright, alright,” Adora caved, “Nothing but positive outcomes being thought of.” 

Which was a flat out lie, Adora was still freaking out on the inside that something had happened to her dog, but at least her outward composure was collected.

It was then that Adora’s phone started ringing, loud in the practically quiet cab, save for the music that was playing at a low volume. 

Sliding on the cab seat so that she could get her phone out of her back pocket, Adora looked at her screen to see an unknown number calling her.

“It’s an unknown number, should I answer?” Adora questioned, “Do you think it’s someone that found Swift Wind?”

“It’s probably just a spam call,” Glimmer voiced, “And if not, they’ll leave a voicemail, so I would ignore it.”

“Spam callers leave voicemails too, Glimmer,” Bow inputted, slowing down to a stop at the stop sign.

Biting her bottom lip in thought as she debated answering the phone, she decided to just see if they left a voicemail, taking the advice of her friends, telling them so once she decided.

“I’ll just let it go to voicemail I guess then.”

Glimmer nodded in satisfaction, “Good. It saves you the pain of interacting with potential telemarketers.”

“She’s a little fed up with them if you couldn’t tell,” Bow stated, turning onto the next street as he continued talking, “She’s been expecting a call back about that nursing job, and all she’s been getting are spam calls.”

“I just don’t get why I’m the only one that seems to get them,” Glimmer huffed out, obviously getting agitated by the conversation unfolding, “Bow never gets them!”

“That isn’t true and you know it,” Bow argued, continuing to drive down the road they were on.

Exhaling sharply in aggravation, Glimmer rebuked, “I was making a point Bow! There was no need to ruin it.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” Adora guessed, looking down when her phone buzzed once more to alert her of a notification that whoever had called her had left a voicemail, “In an attempt to get back to the original topic, whoever it was left a voicemail.”

\--------------------------

Catra had managed to get Swift Wind—as well as her groceries—up into her apartment without running into any of her neighbors, a fact that she was grateful for. She had felt her phone go off in her pocket in the midst of getting everything up to her apartment, but hadn’t had a free hand to get it out of her pocket to look at it. Now that everything was safely in her apartment, she finally looked at her notifications.

_ (223)291-5928 _

_ Missed call _

Recognizing the number as that of Swift Wind’s owner, Catra also noticed the notification that she had a voicemail from the person as well. Clicking on the notification, Catra played the recording.

_ “Oh my god! Thank you so much for finding him! If you text me your address, I’ll be over to get him as soon as I can. I don’t want to burden you with him.” _

Catra winced at the volume of Adora’s voice; the girl was obviously worried but it didn’t mean she had to practically scream. It was also at this point that another voice cut into the voicemail.

_ “Adora, you’re about to ramble, just hang up.” _

And Adora must’ve hung up, because the voicemail cut off at the end of the other person’s sentence.

Looking up from her phone, Catra saw that Swift Wind was staring intently at her phone, and when he noticed her looking at him, he started to bark.

“Shit! Don’t do that,” Catra scolded, only causing the golden retriever to bark more.

“I am so fucked,” Catra muttered under her breath before she had an idea.

“Hey, who wants a carrot?”

That was all it took for Swift Wind to stop barking and run towards Catra, walking in a circle around her once as he whined before sitting down in front of her, cocking his head to the side.

Relieved that her idea worked, Catra stepped out around Swift Wind and walked to the fridge, the dog right behind her, as she opened her fridge and pulled out a carrot, giving it to the dog.

“Now that that is settled,” Catra began, talking to no one but herself, “I should text Adora back.” She proceeded to start a conversation with Adora, typing out a message and sending it.

**Catra** : Hey, this is Catra. I’m sorry I missed your call, I was getting your dog up into my apartment without being seen. As for you getting him back, it would probably be easier if I just dropped him off wherever you live. I’m not really allowed pets, and he’s already been barking, so I would hate to see how much noise he would make when you showed up. Just text me your address and I can bring him over if you’re home.

Adora must’ve been waiting for her text because the response was immediate.

**Adora:** Are you sure?

Two more texts quickly followed it.

**Adora:** Of course you’re sure. You wouldn’t have said so otherwise.

**Adora:** My address is: 308 Bright Moon Avenue. I’ll be home all night, so whenever you can bring Swift Wind back, it works for me.

Having a rough idea of how far away Bright Moon Avenue was, Catra sent back a short response.

**Catra:** I’ll be there in about 20 minutes.

Sliding her phone back into her pocket, Catra looked at Swift Wind.

“Time for you to go home.”

\--------------------------

Adora was in the midst of eating an Oreo YoCrunch when her doorbell rang, approximately twenty-five minutes after Catra had last texted her about Swift Wind. Leaving her yogurt on the counter she got up and went to her front door, opening it to see who she assumed to be Catra along with Swift Wind.

Swift Wind who was sitting there as if he hadn’t run away from her earlier because of a squirrel.

Looking from Swift Wind back to Catra, Adora finally spoke, “Thank you so much for bringing him back! I hope you find my house okay. My friend said you were new to town when I told him who it was that found Swift Wind.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Catra answered, appearing slightly guarded, “How does he know I’m new to town?”

“Oh, right,” Adora began, regretting saying anything, “He works at the university you were hired at and said they just brought you on as a new counselor. He’s in the history department and also helps out with the archery club when needed.”

“I see,” Catra stated, crossing her arms, “Well I should be going. Here’s his leash.” 

Catra held out his leash, which Adora accepted, as she continued to talk, “I gave him some carrots to keep him quiet. I hope that’s alright. I don’t want to be responsible for his death or anything.”

Adora couldn’t help but laugh at how Catra deadpanned the final sentence, and it took a moment before she managed to get out, “He’ll be fine. He eats them all the time.”

“Okay, good,” Catra answered, turning to leave, “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Adora agreed, calling after Catra, “If we don’t see each other before you start your job, good luck!”

“Thanks,” Catra replied, no genuine sense of caring in her voice as she got into her car.

Neither said anything after that: Catra driving off and Adora going back into her house, effectively ending their first meeting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so they meet again for the second time
> 
> i know this chapter is rather short, but i'm just doing each meeting as its own chapter, and this one just happened to not be as extensive

It was almost two weeks later that their paths crossed once more, this time in the local park.

Mystacor Park was a fairly large park that people would frequently visit—especially in the summer—to do a wide array of activities, ranging from picnics to softball tournaments on the park’s many fields on the weekends.

It was shortly after six o’clock and as it stood, Catra was sitting against a tree, enthralled in a murder-mystery novel, eating a sandwich when a frisbee hit her in the head.

“Holy shit that hurt,” Catra grimaced as she set her book down in order to grab the frisbee. The only thing on her mind right now was telling whoever it belonged to off, but when she looked up, she was met with a familiar face.

“You again,” Catra managed to utter, shaking her head in disbelief, “You know you could just say hello or something?”

Two people came running up behind Adora, the girl the first one to speak.

“Adora! How did you miss that?”

“Glimmer has a point, that was a pretty easy throw,” the guy who accompanied Glimmer commented.

“I wouldn’t say it was an easy throw based off of how hard it hit my head,” Catra scoffed, still holding onto the frisbee which she offered to Adora, who just stared at it before hurriedly taking it. 

“Right, the frisbee,” Adora commented, shaking her head before apologizing, “I’m really sorry about this. Is your head okay?”

“I’ll survive,” Catra responded, suddenly noticing the lack of Adora’s dog, “Where’s your dog? Lose him again?”

“Oh! Is this the person who found Swift Wind?” the guy once more commented.

“Yes, Bow,” Adora confirmed, shifting her attention to answering Catra’s question, “And no, I didn’t lose him again. My moms wanted a day with him, so he’s probably being spoiled to death as we speak.”

“Ah, I see,” Catra observed, briefly wondering what it would be like to have a healthy relationship with her mom like Adora seemed to have with her moms.

Bow spoke once again, this time asking, “That means you’re Catra? The new counselor?”

Nodding Catra stated, “The one and only.”

“Awesome! You’re going to love it,” Bow assured, “And at least now you’ll know at least one friendly face on campus.”

Glimmer just rolled her at Bow in what Catra perceived as a loving manner, before directing her statement towards Catra, “Don’t mind his enthusiasm. He’s all for nothing but positive energy all the time.”

“Seems like that could get tiring after a while,” Catra truthfully said, frowning as she added, “You guys should probably get back to your frisbee game or whatever it was you were doing.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Adora answered, seemingly lost in her mind, blinking a few times, “Come on you two, we should let Catra get back to what she was doing.”

“Alright,” Bow began as he started backing away, “It was nice meeting you Catra! I’ll have to swing by your office at some point when the semester starts to see how you’re doing!”

“Bow! You should make sure she wants you to stop by first, before you go saying you’ll stop by,” Glimmer scolded as she followed after Bow, her voice getting fainter the further the two moved away.

It was just Adora and Catra now, neither saying anything at first before Adora lifted her hand to point behind her with her thumb.

“I should probably follow them. I’m sorry, once again.”

Turning around, Adora started to walk away from Catra who watched her for a few steps before she called out to Adora.

“Hey Adora!”

When Adora turned to look over her shoulder at Catra, Catra continued her sentence, “Don’t forget, next time saying ‘Hello’ will work just fine.”

Adora smiled at her, giving her a thumbs up with her free hand, and from where Catra was it almost looked like Adora was blushing slightly. Of course, Catra chalked it up to embarrassment on Adora’s part.

“Will do,” Adora said after a few seconds of silence, turning back around to finish catching up with her friends.

Catra just watched her go, the ghost of a smile forming on her face unbeknownst to her.

\--------------------------

“So she seems like a total asshat.”

“Glimmer….” Bow warned, shooting her a glare.

“I’m just speaking the truth,” Glimmer defended, “I mean didn’t you hear what she said about you?”

“I did,” Bow confirmed, scratching the back of his head, “But she’s entitled to her own opinion of me. Calling her harsh names isn’t going to change it.”

Adora listened as the couple bickered back and forth, not wanting to interject if she didn’t have to, but Glimmer ruined any chance of staying out of it when she directed her next sentiments Aodra’s way.

“Well what do you think Adora? Didn’t she seem rude? It’s hard to believe she’s a counselor with how abrasive she is.”

Deciding whether to just agree with Glimmer or to share her own thoughts, Adora fiddled with the frisbee in her hands before opting to voice her own opinion, “We’re strangers to her Glimmer. She doesn’t owe us being kind, especially when we did hit her in the head with a frisbee.”

“ _ You’re  _ the reason she got hit with the frisbee,” Glimmer emphasized, “So that doesn’t give her a reason to take it out on Bow, who is going to be one of her co-workers.”

“I am the one that threw the frisbee though,” Bow argued, growing as he thought the situation through, “Sure, Adora should’ve caught it but I do have partial responsibility here.”

“Bow…” Adora began, “It’s not your fault that I can’t catch. I was just  _ distracted _ , so I guess this means Glimmer is right by saying it’s my fault.” She wasn’t going to admit that the reason she had been distracted was because she had seen Catra under the big oak tree in the park; that was something she did not want her friends knowing, especially Glimmer. Glimmer who seemed to have some vendetta against Catra already, and Adora reasoned it might be fair since Catra had taken a dig at Bow, but she still thought there was more to Catra’s character than what she had encountered thus far.

“See,” Glimmer gestured with her hands at Bow and Adora, “I’m right! Just like I always am.”

Adora just rolled her eyes at Glimmer’s remark, a remark popping its way into her head, “So you were right a few weeks ago when you said it was a spam caller calling me?” She managed to hold in her laughter when Bow let out a laugh, which earned him a death glare from Glimmer.

Her attention flicking to Adora, Glimmer answered, “That was one time. One time out of thousands of other times. I can’t help the fact that when you are Bow and together, you two wouldn’t be able to find your way out of a paper bag.”

Adora knew Glimmer had a point—her and Bow were not the best duo in terms of making smart decisions—but, regardless, she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Well then I guess I’ll just have to prove you wrong a second time.”

“Oh yeah?” Glimmer scoffed, “How do you plan on doing that?”

There was no going back now, so Adora settled on the first thing she could think of, “I’ll prove to you that Catra isn’t—as you so fondly said—an asshat.”

“Adora, I don’t think that’s a go-” Bow tried to say, before ultimately getting cut off by Glimmer.

“An impossible task that I can’t wait to watch you fail,” Glimmer stated, crossing her arms, “I’ll give you until the end of the fall semester, but under one condition. You can’t go hunting Catra down; you have to run into her accidentally just like tonight.”

Adora glanced behind her at where Catra was sitting, before turning to look back at Glimmer, a confident smile on her face, “You have yourself a deal.”

\--------------------------

Catra could feel someone looking at her, and when she glanced up, she wasn’t surprised to see that it was Adora looking over at her. The look was brief, and she was certain Adora turned away before noticing Catra looking back at her.

A part of her wondered what the look had been about, because whatever discussion the trio had been having, seemed to cease after Adora turned away and appeared to have said something. Mulling it over, Catra could only assume that the conversation had been about her, because it was the only reason Adora would look back at her.

She watched as they left the park, a part of her still curious as to what they had been saying about her, the other part of her telling her she didn’t care. But for some reason she found herself caring and she didn’t like it.

Not long after Adora and her friends left, Catra too left the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you all are staying safe and hydrated!! take care everyone!!

**Author's Note:**

> i will love you forever if you read the chaos that are my tags because i like to think i'm funny and idk when to stop with tags apparently. find me on twitter @razzspie


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